The N-Y-City

When I was younger I always prided myself on the city of Angels. The food, the diversity, the vibrance. 

But New York is really something else. It truly is the "melting pot" I learned about in elementary school. Color means nothing (because black people speak Spanish). Age means nothing (because a five year old is trilingual). And race is nothing (because you can have a twenty all at the same time). 

As much as I thought LA was a melting pot, I never walked out my door and heard Italian, Polish, and Spanish before English. And did I mention "God bless the Italians!"?

Saturday morning we headed out for the City. Can I interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to talk about public transportation in New York? Okay, moving on.

Once we were situated in the city and I had somewhat sufficiently ogled Grand Central while pretending not to be a tourist, we headed to Katz's Deli. Lesson #1 of the City: Learn to walk. Even with a gazillion underground trains, and above ground buses. You walk.



Also, you wait. I have learned that similar to many big cities, there are tourist traps, but also tourist and local favorites. Katz's seems to be one of those places.



My boss highly recommend it to me, and Ali had never been, so that was our lunch destination. It reminded me a lot of Philippe's in LA. Especially in the sense that there are lines for food and you don't necessarily understand what is going on, but it flows somehow. We were extremely lucky and only waited maybe 20 minutes before we got to the front of our line.



The food was insane. I'm not a pastrami girl. But when pastrami is done right (my previous experience being The Hat) I'm a huge fan. Katz's takes pastrami to a whole new level. A pastrami steak level.

I look back at those photos and I smell goodness. We also got an order of matzo ball soup. I prefer kreplach to matzo ball but NY is quickly showing me that I can throw all I thought I knew about food out the window. Because I could eat that matzo ball soup ALL. DAY.

While we were savoring I realized that Katz's is where that famous scene from When Harry Met Sally was filmed. And I can definitely say the famous line, "I'll have whatever she's having!" because I think pretty much everything here must be delicious.

Back underground we went to emerge at the very end of the line. And on to the Staten Island Ferry. Since my sister is a NYC pro, she knows the way to my cheapskate heart. And it is spelled f-r-e-e. The ferry is free and kinda used by commuters (you can find them by their beat up hard-shell lunch boxes and working clothes) but also by cheapskate tourists (you can find them with their whiny kids and selfie sticks).

Sailing away!



I say in jest because the ferry is actually this huge formidable barge.





It was surreal to just sail on by the Statue of Liberty. You know... THE Statue of Liberty, just chilling in the harbor. Like it has been their my whole life but I am just now seeing her.





It was a short trip but fun to get some fresh air on the water. When we came back we were having fun seeing how ridiculous everyone looked waiting to get on the ferry. Faces all pressed up against the glass like they might get left behind in their silly Lady Liberty foam hats.

Ali was like, "Ellis Island all over again?" Too soon.

Everything in NY reminds me of a movie or show. Pigeons too. Because Bolt.

One of the coolest things about NYC to me is that each area is totally different. Even within a few city blocks you have different neighborhoods. Suits to bums, fedoras to blue collar workers.When we got back to Manhattan we walked around the financial district. I was apparently so mesmerized that we missed our subway portal. I didn't mind though. It's crazy to think of people living and working here. Going about their day to day lives. On their lunch break or going to meet with some hot shot. 

Since everything here reminds me of a show, everything in NY is Gotham City. Trump towers = Wayne Enterprises. JP Morgan = Gotham Stock Exchange. And I didn't even need a movie guide for that. I may have gone a little too far with all the quotes. But Ali knows I'm so dumb and she kinda likes it anyways.

We walked past the iconic bull of Wall Street, which you could barely see because there were dozens of people crawling & climbing on top of it. Another reason NY is so fun is that around every corner you find something historic.

We passed by Federal Hall with a George Washington statue and engravings. Anyone know why?



Federal Hall was where the first presidential inauguration took place on April 30th 1789! Also where the Bill of Rights was passed. I can't blame the ogling tourists because everything here is kind of a big deal.

The day was full of walking and I found the best kept secret between the huge skyscrapers of the financial district. SHADE! Sweet sweet shade with a little breeze every so often. It was divine. Before long we were back on track, underground in the subway, and then popping up to drop in on the High Line.



It is a pretty cool little park/ walkway that is built on an old raised railroad track. Here you can find bright green plants in the midst of the concrete jungle. Also lots of hipsters and hipster food stands. Ali recommend People's Pops. Smart, because it was pretty hot and humid. Ali got a strawberry rhubarb, and I got peach hibiscus. Instantly melty, but very refreshing.



We strolled a little, but we had been strolling all day, so we strolled on over to the Chelsea Market. The lower level is a shopping mall and upstairs are television broadcasting companies like Food Network and Oxygen. Originally the building housed the National Biscuit Company (I now understand "Na bis co"), where the Oreo was invented. See?! Always kinda a big deal around here.


Iconic twinkle lights that are probably photographed by 1 million hipster tourists every day.

Although my belly was still amazingly full from the sandwich at Katz's, there is always room for dessert! We had a little time to kill at Grand Central so we stopped by Magnolia Bakery. Ali's Pro Tip #288- Skip the line and get your Magnolia fix at the location in Grand Central. Everything looked good but Ali's Pro Tip #289 is to get the banana pudding.



Are you meh about banana pudding? Am I the only one who is imagining a box of bright yellow Jello pudding with browning bananas thrown in it? That's not banana pudding. After tasting Magnolia Bakery's, banana pudding may be my favorite dessert of all time (remember about NY teaching me to throw everything thing I know about food out the window?). I'll use Ali's description, "Like if clouds and happiness got together and made banana pudding."

It's perfect.

The cupcakes were good, but if you don't get that banana pudding you're missing the whole point.

Tired sweaty and happy we rode the train back. 

Ready for a new adventure because the night was young!